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Michigan lawmakers act on Flint water crisis, unanimously approve $9.35M in state aid

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Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards shows the difference in water quality between Detroit and Flint after testing, giving evidence after more than 270 samples were sent in from Flint that show high levels of lead during a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 outside of City Hall in downtown Flint.
(Jake May | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- Michigan officials have faced criticism for an initially slow response to an ongoing drinking water crisis in Flint, but lawmakers have acted quickly on Gov. Rick Snyder's request for state aid.

The state Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a supplemental spending bill that includes $9.35 million for a Flint water switch, residential filters, additional testing and other services.

The House formally added the funding to an existing spending bill and approved it unanimously on Wednesday night, one week after Snyder's original request.

Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, a Flint Democrat who worked with the governor to secure the funding, thanked colleagues on both sides of the aisle for affirming that Flint residents "deserve clean and safe" drinking water.

"Unanimous support in both chambers to secure important resources is heartening," he said on the floor. "This is an important and necessary step to fix the current crisis."

Flint, operating under a state-appointed emergency manager at the time, began supplying residents with Flint River water in April of 2014. Scientists have since discovered elevated lead levels in drinking water and the blood of children.

The bulk of the funding -- $6 million -- will help Flint reconnect to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department until a new Lake Huron pipeline is complete. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has committed another $4 million, and the cash-strapped city is paying the remaining $2 million.

Harsh Flint River water has been blamed for exacerbating corrosion in aging pipes, and toxic lead levels have been detected in drinking water in three Flint schools, according to state officials.

The spending proposal would appropriate $1 million to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for laboratory analysis of drinking water samples in Flint. Another $1 million would cover the costs of water filters provided to Flint residents.

The bill includes $850,000 to fund additional state and local services in the city, such as screening for abnormal blood lead levels, lead hazard identification and follow-up care for affected children.

Another $300,000 would help fund home and school water connections in Flint, and $200,000 would support plumbing inspections in educational and health facilities.

Of the $9.35 million appropriation to benefit Flint, $7.15 million would come out of the state's general fund, while $2.2 million would come from other restricted sources, including an available balance in a DEQ settlement fund.

House Appropriations Chairman Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville, said Wednesday that the state can afford the Flint assistance without having to tap its Rainy Day Fund, noting contingency money in the current budget and lapsed money from the last.

Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, echoed that confidence, noting that Mott and the city stepped up with their own funding.

"We're looking at the health endowment fund and all kinds of things to put this together to solve the immediate problem, and then look at what we have to do in the intermediate phase to make sure it doesn't continue," he said. "We're going to do that. It's a public health problem."

Plans for Flint to switch off of Detroit water and join a regional authority building a new Lake Huron Pipeline were put in motion before Snyder appointed an emergency financial manager to run the city.

But there is no record that City Council voted to use the Flint River as a short-term drinking water source, according to The Flint Journal, and those contracts were ultimately signed by emergency managers.

There "weren't many decisions that were allowed to be made by local elected officials" at the time, Ananich told reporters after Thursday's session. He's interested in some type of a probe to examine the decision making process and does not believe the financially struggling city should have had to pay $2 million to reconnect to Detroit water.

"I thought, obviously, the state should have covered the entire portion, but the plan I think is one that will work to help get the issue resolved, help Flint residents get some needed relief and hopefully long-term build some trust back," he said.

Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, in a statement released after the vote, thanked the Legislature for taking "swift and decisive" action for Flint residents.

"We can now move to secure a reconnection to Detroit and provide Lake Huron water until the KWA pipeline can be completed next year," he said.